Terry Murphy was a frustrated basketball player who became "commissioner of the asphalt" by creating the outdoor Hoop-It-Up tournament.

He was publisher of D Magazine in 1986 when he started the three-on-three tournament to benefit Texas Special Olympics in Dallas. The idea mushroomed, and when he sold Hoop-It-Up in 2000, the program had grown to include 302 tournaments in 27 countries.

Murphy, 77, died Monday of natural causes at his Addison home.

A celebration of his life will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday at the Gleneagles Country Club in Plano.

Terry Murphy

"He was larger than life," said his son-in-law Tim Cline of Frisco. "He called himself the commissioner of the asphalt. He saw the potential to have people get off the couch and get in the game."

Murphy was gregarious, funny and creative, said Randy Flink, who worked with Murphy since Hoop-It-Up's earliest days.

"He was probably one of the most creative people I've ever been around," said Flink, who was in investment banking when he teamed with Murphy. "I think he opened the left side of my brain."

Murphy was born in Manhattan Beach, Calif., and grew up in Torrance, Calif., where he graduated from Mariposa County High School. He was passionate about both basketball and volleyball, with mixed results.

"I was like the ninth guy on a team that played eight," he recalled in 1993.

He once noted that he scored a total of four points in two years of basketball competition playing for San Jose State University.

Having grown up near the beach, however, Murphy was more gifted with sand under his feet. He was a member of the U.S. men's national volleyball team in 1962, but he didn't qualify for the Olympic team.

In 1963, he received a bachelor's degree in English from San Jose State. Early in his career, he sold typewriters and dictation equipment for IBM. He also was a salesman for Time Inc., where he was promoted to Sports Illustrated's branch manager for advertising sales in Cleveland.

He moved to Dallas in 1980 to add a magazine division to Harte-Hanks' portfolio of newspaper and broadcast holdings. Ever open to ideas, he invested in Big D Ranch, a western-style theme park in southern Dallas County. In 1982, he was recruited to help manage the Dallas Market Center, including the International Apparel Mart.

On a 1983 golf outing, Ray Hunt asked Murphy to become publisher of D Magazine, which the oilman then owned. While publisher, Murphy launched the basketball tournament, Hoop-D-Do, to benefit Special Olympics.

In 1988, Murphy resigned as D Magazine publisher to develop the basketball tournament, which evolved into Hoop-It-Up. He recruited Pizza Hut and Pepsi as title sponsors, expanding the tournament to 18 cities.

"Terry was the ultimate entrepreneur," said Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, who upheld the Pizza Hut sponsorship while he was CEO of the restaurant company. "He loved Dallas and did a great job promoting our city."